These Cold Days
by Genko-Yoru
Summary: After a tragic event befalls Danny and his friends, the trio finds themselves on the run in the dead of winter. Struggling with new and old wounds, Sam tries to figure out the truth that Danny is hiding, while Danny himself refuses to face them. - A Phanniemay 2018 entry.
1. Chapter 1

**_Chapter 1: THINGS RIGHT AND WRONG._**

 **AN: Hey all! I'm back with a, err... "short" story. This is actually an entry to Phanniemay 2018 Day 25: Cold. I never dreamed I could write this in a week, but amazingly here we are! I hope you enjoy the ride.**

 **And of course, disclaimer; I do not own Danny Phantom.**

* * *

With a click the automatic doors slid shut, blocking out the freezing air behind her. The supermarket was dazzling to Sam's eyes, after nothing but abandoned buildings and dull forests for days on end. The artificial shop was physically painful to look at, the fake-plastic smell invading her nose with its reek. Gripping the strap of her backpack tighter, Sam waited to see if someone was inside. But that was a stupid thought. Like everywhere else, everybody had run as fast as they could.

She took a step forward, wincing as her combat boots squeaked on the vinyl. It was too eerie, the only sound being the soft hum of the fridges. Places like this should be full of life, people chatting, music blaring and the sound of rolling carts filled with highly-processed junk. Instead, the shelves were bare, the odd packet of food crushed into the floor. Little signs that people had rushed through and grabbed whatever they could quickly. Signs that something was terribly wrong with the world.

The further Sam proceeded into the shop the darker it got, the frosted windows not letting in enough light. She shivered, fingers curling around the army knife in her pocket. Staying here for too long would be a bad idea, a risk she couldn't take. But a supermarket had the best chance for her to find what she needed. Food was secondary, an excuse to get away from their safe house. Right now, what Sam needed most were painkillers. And as many as she could get her hands on.

Walking faster she entered the far-right aisle, this one neater than the others. Her nerves were on a razor's edge, each corner, each shadow turning into danger. She feared that there was someone there in the shadows who would tackle her to the ground. But nothing happened. She was safe.

The shelf she wanted was before her, her luck finally pulling through. There where the brightly colored packets that she wanted, barely touched. Even better was the little box of bandages on the shelf below, all tucked away in neat little rolls. Sam dumped the pack, grabbing the entire lot and stuffed it into the bag, display box and all. There was no telling when they'd find stuff like this again the further north they went. If only she could find a suture kit! The one thing that she desperately needed and yet couldn't find! No matter, the painkillers were better than nothing-

"You alright there Hun?"

Sam's heart jumped into her throat as a voice sounded behind her. In a panic she bolted up, the shelf collapsing as she grabbed it. Its contents coasted to the flood with a clang, Sam mentally kicking herself at her carelessness. How could she let herself get too fixated! Errors like that would end up getting them all killed. However, Sam paused from flicking out the knife when she saw it was a lady dressed in heavy snow gear. The woman pulled down the scarf from her mouth, smiling at Sam warmly with her palms open.

"It's alright dear, I don't mean you trouble."

Those words had to be lies. Utter lies. Too many times before people had said the same thing to her. Words that had been said before they tried to catch her. Like the others, this lady was trying to lull Sam into a false state of security. And she wasn't buying it for a second.

Taking a deep breath to calm down, the army knife still digging into her palm. Slowly; eyes never leaving the woman Sam bent down to zip up the backpack. Hefting the heavy thing back to its spot she tested the weight, mind reeling. She had to put on a show and appear glad to see her. After all, she was just a teenager to her, running from the same nightmare. And so far, it seemed it hadn't clicked to the lady who she really was. Or who she was traveling with.

Time to play the scared little girl. "Y-you just took me by surprise. I'm not doing anything wrong-" Sam reddened at how dumb that sounded. "Well, I guess I am a little. Taking this stuff without paying."

The lady chuckled at that, nodding as she took off her woollen hat, brushing snow into the air. Sam walked towards her, placing a thin smile on her face. As she got close Sam bowed her head, letting her hair fall across her face. She didn't want this woman to look too long at her. If she was recognised from the news, everything would get serious in a second. "I was just grabbing a few things, but there's nothing here. So, I'll be going now."

"All by yourself?" she frowned, looking around the aisle in case there was someone hanging about. A twitch of annoyance filled Sam, she didn't think she could be here all alone. Granted, it was pretty stupid to be traveling alone right now. But then Sam wasn't your typical middle schooler anymore. Those times helping Danny ghost hunting had changed her and Tucker, made them tougher, more resilient.

"What about yourself? You're here all alone."

To Sam's dismay, she shook her head with a smile, pointing back to the exit. Just then she heard a door slam outside, the form of a figure appearing on the frosted windows. "My hubby and I are just seeing if there's anything left before we hit the highway. Most shops are completely stripped closer to town. But this little place is further out. More chances it had been forgotten." She laughed, brushing snow off her shoulders. "though it looks like we drew the short stick!"

"Oh…" The words deflated out of Sam. That was the very same reason she was here; this supermarket was far away from any of the main roads. Hidden off to one lonely side, Tucker had thought because of that it would be safe to check out. Not so, it seemed.

The familiar feeling of dread crept back into Sam's stomach when the husband walked in. Taking a small step back she glanced around. There had to be a back-door, a staff exit, anything! But the lady had her pinned down by a hard stare to truly look for an escape. Together these two could take her down, especially if they had weapons hidden on them. The tiny knife would be useless against a gun.

Like her the man took off his scarf, muttering about the crap weather. The moment he saw they weren't alone he stopped, his eyes widening at the sight of Sam's small frame. Suddenly the shop felt way too crowded.

A big, goofy grin crossed his face, making Sam's nerves jump madly. "Well I'll be damned, another friendly face! Been awhile since we've come across anyone on the road."

Sam nodded, shifting her feet. Why couldn't they see that she didn't want to talk to them? "S-same. Well, it's been nice bumping into you two, but I've got to go."

Moving to walk around them her hopes sunk when the woman didn't move, peering at her like she was actually seeing the girl in front of her for the first time. Could she see how tattered Sam was? or the little drops of dried red and green blood that caked her skirt? Or maybe she just simply saw how tired she was. Whatever she did see Sam feared that she had finally recognised her. That she'd just ruined everything.

Watching Sam, the man frowned, looking back out the window. It was pointless to see out when the ice covered the glass, but still, the act sent shivers of anxiety down her back. Could they be a distraction? Maybe out there the Guy's in White was waiting for her, ready to pounce the moment she stepped out the door.

"Funny," he said, the humour disappearing in his voice. "Didn't see any cars in the parking lot. How'd you get here? Surely you didn't bike through all that snow!" he ended his talk with a bark of amusement. Sam fiddled with her pack's strap again, choosing her next words carefully.

"Um, I… walked here actually…"

The two gasped, Sam flinched. Bad choice. "You can't be serious!? Out in that weather?"

"Yeah." Please, just let me go, Sam thought, it will be the best for them all if you did.

The man stepped forward to place a hand on his wife's shoulder, his face filled with worry. All acting, most likely. So far, this couple had been the best liars Sam had seen yet. "You can't just head out there on foot! What with this bad weather and the disaster going on. It's dangerous out there, especially for a young girl like yourself! If you like, we can drive you back to your place. Safer than walking through those dark woods alone."

Sam cringed at the offer. Time to pull out the old my-parents-are-waiting lie. Perfect for shaking grownups off your case. She pulled herself up, trying to appear as mature as she could, finally looking into their eyes. "Thanks for your concern. But I can take care of myself. Besides my parents are waiting for me and they'll get worried if they find out I took a ride from strangers." She finally walked around the lady. "Though you've wasted your time here, all the food's gone."

"Wait." Sam felt her hand on her shoulder. It was soft, gentle and had no menace in the grasp. Even so, she still recoiled, several escape plans running through her head. Could she really use her knife on these people? Somehow Sam suspected that she never could. She was about to ask what she wanted when the woman opened a shoulder bag, digging around for something. Tense again, fearing it was going to be some sort of weapon Sam started to thumb the catch of the knife, ready for anything. To her surprise, the lady only took out a can of soup. She held it out, nodded for Sam to take it from her.

"Take this. It's all we can give, but it at least should help. At least give it to the person that needs all those painkillers." She winked, telling Sam she'd seen her cram about twenty packets of the stuff.

Sam felt herself blush at the blunder, staring at the can like it was some sort of trick. It was just too good to be true, this couple was being too innocent, too helpful. But they needed that tin, so she took it from her hand, expecting the woman to grab her wrist. Instead, they both ended up smiling cheerfully at her, which only made Sam feel worse about this. If they really knew who she was, they wouldn't be giving her anything, they'd be running away.

"Thank you." Sam held it in her free hand, not wanting to show that she was still clutching a weapon in the other. With one final fake smile, Sam stepped onto the welcome mat. With a click, the automatic doors opened and she shivered from the blast of chilly wind, pulling the neck of her jacket closer. As Sam took her first crunching steps into the snow the husband called.

"You be careful out there!"

She looked back. Sam had no idea why she did it. She should have just kept walking away. But something about the tone made her pause. Both stood watching, side by side in the dazzling supermarket. Slowly the smile they both wore faded into a concerned frown.

"Stay safe Hun" the lady uttered.

The husband nodded in reply, a sudden dark look crossing his brow." That's right. And keep a look out for those ghosts. Who knows where those creatures are hiding now."

Sam shivered again, but this time it had nothing to do with the cold. She didn't reply, didn't say a word as she walked out into the carpark, hearing those doors close behind her. It was only when Sam was sure that the couple couldn't see her form through the frosted windows did she run, run like her life depended on it. She had a horrible feeling that it did.


	2. Chapter 2

**_CHAPTER 2 - SOME PLACE WE CALLED HOME_**

The hike back to the safe house was long, full of clingy bushes and steep slopes. Whenever the ground evened Sam ran till her lungs ached, praying that it would snow heavily tonight and cover her tracks. By the time the rotting, half-fallen fence came into view the forest had grown so dark, it was like a navy filter had covered her eyes. Hefting herself over she cursed as the toe of her combat boot hooked the top. Stumbling up she rushed through the last bit of forest, till the familiar building came into view.

They had made the abandoned church as their current home. Like all the other places they had hidden in these past two weeks, it was as run-down-looking as possible. Nestled amongst the trees it stood, bent crooked from the wind. Its garden was covered in dead bushes and dried up weeds, hiding the place so well that it was easy to miss. It was perfect for them, a place there could be held no chances someone would want to explore, even if they found it.

Pausing behind one of the pine trunks Sam surveyed her surroundings, making sure that the couple hadn't followed her. Once the coast was clear she bolted forward, worming her way through the dead undergrowth and up the mold covered steps. On the porch sat the once grand doors, one on the verge of swing off its hinge. Through the gap, there was a tiny orange glow, so faint yet easy to spot in the fading light. Great, so Tucker hadn't listened to her warnings after all.

She knocked ten times to the title theme of _Doomed,_ pressing against the wall as she waited. A soft, grumpy muttering came from the other side, a loud scraping as the bench seat was dragged from the door. Slowly the still-movable door opened just a crack, Tucker peering through. At the sight of her, he grinned, eyes shining behind his cracked glasses.

"Password?"

"Seriously Tuck, not in the mood." She scowled, annoyed that he wanted to pull such a cliché joke at a time like this. Squeezing forcefully through the door Sam made her way into the entranceway, stamping off the snow that was stuck to the soles of her boots.

"Hey, just trying to get a laugh from you."

" Ha Ha."

He pushed the bench back with a grunt. Little good it would do if someone really wanted to get in. But it was more of the thought it was there that made them feel a little safer. The wood was as soft as cardboard, one good push and it would crumble in seconds. Even Tucker with his weak limbs could smash it down. Pulling her boots off Sam rubbed her sore toes back to life. Through the other door frame, she could see the main chapel, their small battery lamp glowing in the middle.

"You can see it through the door."

" I had a feeling you could. But I don't want to become a mole, Sam. It's hard enough to read Betty's screen in pitch darkness."

Sam rolled her eyes at the mere mention of that damn PDA. That thing was going to get them killed one of these days. Kicking her shoes next to the other two pairs she entered their 'Den', which mostly consisted of sleeping bags, odd blankets, their portable stove, and an unused radio. It was a dismal camp, but it was all they had.

Dumping the pack next to the others Sam proceeded to unzipped hers, hearing Tucker stroll up behind. He grinned when he saw that the pack was bulging, rubbing his hands together in glee.

"What did you get? Sausages? Some ham? Or maybe a big juicy steak- "

Sam took out the single tin with a smug smile. "One tin of tomato soup."

Adding it to their small pile of food tins he wrinkled his nose in disgust. " One little tin? How are we going to survive on just revolting vegetable soups and tin beans? We need proteins!"

"Well, next time _you_ can go get the supplies yourself. It's not my fault that's most of the shops are cleared out…" she fell silent, remembering the real reason she had gotten the tin.

"Well, I'm blaming you when we're all weak and sick because we become malnourished! -"

"Tucker, I was seen."

He froze, stunned at her words. "This couple saw me. I don't think they recognized me at the time, but... What with all the news reports..."

"Damn," He pulled out his PDA, quickly tapping the screen. "Got to make a note of that. Now I'll need to keep an eye on the local news reports if they mention you in the coming days. Are you sure they didn't recognize you?"

"Positive. They were nothing like the others. Just a normal, innocent couple."

Tucker's eyes narrowed, one eyebrow raised. "I hope your right about that. Leaving in a rush again is really going to wear me out! I'm not built for all this stealthy, on-the-run stuff."

Without another word, he headed back over to the lamp, were a small laptop glowed in the dimness. Wrapping a bunch of blankets around his shoulders he madly began to type. Sam sighed once he got into that tech-geek mindset he wouldn't stop for hours. Taking out the pile of bandages and a box of the painkillers she grabbed their small first aid box, looking around the hall for Danny. It wasn't a surprise now to come back and not see him straight away, but this time he was nowhere in sight.

"Where is he?"

Tucker didn't even look away from the screen as he pointed up. Puzzled she followed his finger, peering at the rafters above. Thanks to it being dusk, the holes in the roof barely let off any light outside, casting the roof into deep shadows. It took all her concentration to finally spot Danny, just visible on the least rotted side of the church. Groaning Sam rose, marching over to the spot. Just perfect, so now he was hiding in places where they couldn't get to him. Walking underneath, arms crossed and ready for an argument, Sam pouted up.

"Danny! Get down-"

 _Drip._ She jumped when something fell in the corner of her vision. Another drop joined the growing puddle in front of her. At first, she thought it was just another roof leak, but the puddle was too…dark. Nervous she bent down, the moment her fingertips touched the warm, sticky liquid her stomach sank.

"Your wounds opened again!"

He ignored her, shifting away. Anger rose inside Sam, the same anger she had tried to use to snap him back to his senses early. But that hadn't worked at all, only making his mood fouler. They had ended up bickering for hours until Tucker had finally stepped between them. After that, Danny had been keeping his distance from them, whenever they had tried to talk to him it was almost impossible to get a good answer. Though Sam acted frustrated at his abrupt change of attitude, deep down it scared her.

Sickening as it was, Sam knew she'd have to try a more positive approach. Planting on a smile she hoped that it wouldn't look as forced as it felt.

"I've got some bandages when I was out. Um…come down and I'll wrap it up properly."

Still, it got nothing out of him. A few more drops joined the puddle.

"Danny please."

She hated how frightened her voice sounded then, unable to keep her real concerns from creeping in. Yet it worked; Danny sighed if reluctantly, swinging his legs over the beam. She waited for those white rings, but to Sam's dismay he dropped down normally. He landed with a loud crack of wood, deafening as it echoed around the chapel. She rushed to him as his legs buckled. He hissed, gripping his stomach as the wound opened more from the jolt.

"You idiot! You should have gone ghost!"

"Don't want to." Scowling through the pain with narrow eyes he gently pulled away from her support. He stood there swaying lightly, trying to hide the bleeding under his blanket. But already the new clothes they'd found for him were soaked. Sam bit her lip, holding back a troubling comment. It wouldn't help.

Without saying another word, she looped his arm around her shoulder. At first, he grumbled at the support, but the death glare Sam sent him stopped the words from even leaving his mouth. Together they limped over to the lamp, Sam wondering how pathetic they all must look.

Sitting Danny down against one of the benches Sam glanced over at Tucker. The tech nerd still hadn't even looked up from that damn computer.

"Why did you let him get up there!" they were being too loud, but right now that was the least of their worries.

Tucker snorted, fingers never stopping a beat as he typed. "You seriously think _I_ could have stopped him?"

"You could have at least tried to…" Sam sighed. Getting angry with Tucker when he was actually right was a waste of time. Forgetting him she dug around for the small metal first aid kit. It was time to wrap Danny's wounds with a proper bandage, not just some ripped up shirts. Seeing what she was about to do he let the blanket fall off him, shuffling so that she could roll his shirt up without any problem. Finding the small bottle of antiseptic Sam took a rag of Danny's last shirt and dabbed the cloth, moving forward.

"You ready?"

He nodded, carefully rolling up the shirt without it catching on the wrapping. Slowly, trying not to feel sick Sam pulled off the bloody strips of fabric hiding his injury, noting him tense. Once they were gone she pressed on the infected area with the antiseptic, refusing to look at his face.

It was like she zapped him. With a yelp he gasped, slamming his fist down on the seat behind him. All of them flinched as the sound rebounded around the hall. Gritting her teeth, she continued till she was happy that it was clean enough. Dabbing another clean rag, she gestured for him to turn around.

"Now the other side."

It looked like he hadn't heard her at first, likely fighting to stay conscious. But after a few ragged breaths, he shifted around, showing her the other mess on his back, parallel with the other. Like before he when rigid at the stinging, but it was much quicker than before. Sighing Sam sat back, observing the wound as she unwrapped the new dressings from their plastic package.

The gunshot holes still hadn't closed over. This wasn't right. Normally Danny should have healed completely by now, becoming nothing more than a pair of ugly scars. And yet after two weeks since he'd been shot, the wounds refused to close. At first, Sam thought that maybe something was wrong with his powers. But now an even worse theory crossed her mind.

Danny was stopping his healing powers on purpose.

No, she shook the thought out of her head. She didn't even want to think about that, it couldn't be the reason. But what else could it be?

Quickly she wrapped up his torso, pleased that he finally had a proper dressing. Giving Danny a weak smile she sighed. "There, that should help it heal. Until we find some stitches that will have to do."

Danny gave her a skeptical look. "It's not healing Sam. It's just…too severe."

"Come on, don't say that! Sooner or later your powers will have to kick in. And when they do, everything will finally be okay."

He pulled his blanket back up again, closing his eyes. "Whatever."

Biting her lip again Sam gave him some space, shuffling over to Tucker. He was madly browsing through the news, trying to find out as much information as he could before the battery ran out.

"So," Sam whispered. "Any news?"

"Well, …there's good news and bad news."

"Get to the point."

"Fine. Good news is that both our families are still listed as 'Missing' so that's…good, I think. Both of us as still listed on the missing list too, so at least we know no one knows where we are."

He clicked into another tab, skimming the text. "The bad news is Amity Park is now completely in the dark. Reports are that the Guys in White were trying to get a team to dismantle the ghost portal, but they're not reporting whether they actually did it. Most of the towns around Amity have been evacuated, we're in the quarantine zone now. But no one's heard anything from Amity since..."

They both looked at Danny, who they found glaring back at them. "You know I _can_ hear you guys."

"Sorry dude." Tucker pointed at the screen. "But seriously, everyone's getting really anxious. No one really knows what's happening or why. Hell, this has even gone international! There's even talk about placing the evacuation on the surrounding states. Things are going downhill like mega fast."

"Great. So Amity Parks dead."

"We don't know that!" snapped Sam, suddenly having enough of Danny's foul mood. "Just because we haven't heard anything from there doesn't mean everyone's dead! Maybe they're all got away or someone got the ghost shields up in time. But I refuse to believe the whole towns gone without seeing it myself!"

Danny sighed, rubbing his neck. "Face it, Sam, there's no way the town's still standing." He stood painfully, fixing them with a gloomy frown. "It's gone."

And with that he headed to their sleeping bags, slumping heavily onto his. Sam was about to march over to him to give him a piece of her mind, but Tucker grabbed her arm, pulling her down.

"No Sam. Leave him alone."

"But-"

Tucker shook his head, a pained expression crossing his brow. "He's lost everything. We just need to give him some space to process all this-"

They all jumped at a shrill, rattling noise blasted around the hall. Sam quickly headed to the source, Danny's bag, rummaging through his stuff. It was his cell phone, vibrating against the metal Fenton thermos. She quickly removed it from the metal, cupping it in her hands till it stopped. Checking the screen Sam scowled when she saw the caller's ID.

"Who was it?" Tucker closed the laptop with a click, moving to her side to peer at the cell phone.

"It's Plasmius again."

Quickly she shot a glance at Danny, finding him watching her. She waited for him to say something about the call, after all, Plasmius had been trying to contact him every day this week. But Danny didn't utter a word, turning his back to them. Curiosity grew in Sam, mixed with concern. She just knew that creep was involved in all of this somehow, and that Danny knew exactly what that involvement was. However, he had told them nothing of what had happened after he had left Casper High in a panic. No amount of hounding him for questions had solved that.

"You sure we should keep doing that?"

Sam whipped angrily around, appalled that Tucker would even suggest that. _"What!?"_

Tucker fidgeted, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Look, Sam… I hate to break it to you, but we're not doing too well on our own. Maybe, urgh, maybe we should answer and see what Plasmius wants. Whatever it is can't be as bad as what's happened to us-"

"No! There is no way we are talking to that sleazy jerk! He wouldn't even help us anyway. All he'd do is use this bad situation to get what he wants from Danny! And I'm not giving Danny another headache to deal with!"

She stormed off to the entrance, glancing at Danny's still form. "I'll take first watch."


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3 - WE KEEP GOING**

The next morning brought a biting cold, the holes in the church blowing in patches of snow. Sam and Tucker had quickly huddled around their tiny portable stove, putting on double layers of clothes to combat the winter. Both felt a little jealous of Danny, whose ice powers made the cold a cake walk for him. But neither dared to even make a joke about it in case it riled him up again.

As Sam cooked the tin of soup, Tucker tapped away at his PDA. Nervously she kept glancing at Danny, who still appeared to be sleeping, yet she had an odd feeling he wasn't. He was slipping away from them, and while Tucker thought it was a good idea to give him space, Sam knew if this kept up Danny would end up doing something stupid.

Almost like he'd read her mind, Danny stirred, dragging himself up. One look at his face told her he was still in his foul mood. He walked past them, not looking their way as he limped toward the front of the church. Sam watched him like a hawk, if she spotted those white rings of his she'd lose it, no way was she letting him hide in the rafters again. To her relief, he didn't, sitting down on the least-rotted pew with a huff.

Scooping the warmed soup into plastic bowls she passed Tucker his share. He looked down his nose at the soup, disgusted. " More yucky soup-"

" _Drink it._ " She said darkly, earning a wince from him as he obedient took the bowl.

"Yes, Ma'am."

Sam rolled her eyes, picking up the two bowls and stood, shivering from the sudden lack of warmth. She was going to try and break through again, or at least try to get their Danny back to his old self. Both of them were waiting for Danny Phantom to come back. He'd shake off this terrible situation and form a plan to save Amity, to save everyone. But as she walked over to him, bent over, fringe covering his pale face, that past thought disappeared like smoke. Danny was broken, balancing on the edge to live another day or let himself bleed out. It dawned on her that he was only keeping it together because of them. If something happened to either her or Tucker, she dreaded to think of what he would do.

Taking a deep breath, she still sat next to him. Gently she pushed the soup underneath his slouch. " Here, I got you some soup. It's a bit watery, but at least it's warm."

Danny stared dryly at the bowl, making no move to take it.

She sighed, pushing it closer to his face. "Seriously Danny, drink it. At least do it for me."

He took the soup from her but didn't make a move to drink it. She could help but feel hurt at that. As he moved Sam took a quick glance under his blanket. His other arm was tight around his waist, flecks of dark brown dotted his shirt. He still wasn't healing. Quickly she looked away, taking a sip from hers. The soup was barely heated up, chunks still icy cold. " It's not as bad as it looks. At least it's better than all that Mystery Meat rubbish we have at school."

She had hoped it would kindle some cheeky response from him, but Danny only nodded, finally taking the smallest drink from his. They sat in silence, listening to the soft tapping from Tucker and the creaking of the old building.

Sam couldn't take the silence anymore. "Everything going to be okay," she said more to herself than to Danny. " Once everything quiets down at home, we can go back."

"Yeah, in the next century."

She blinked, not expecting him to have answered. But what he said… Sam pushed down the sinking from her stomach. Deep down she knew that Danny was right. Whatever had happened to him was beyond serious. Things were never going to be the same again, not now. But thinking like that wasn't helpful, and as gross as thinking positive was to her, they had to now.

"We don't know that." Seeing that he wasn't going to drink anymore she took the bowl, they couldn't waste a single drop. " For all we know everyone's just still in shock. Right now, we all we have to do is keep moving and wait it out. I'm sure that-"

"-Not happening."

Her anger at his mood came back, seconds from cracking. He wasn't the only one struggling over this, wasn't the only one that had to run for their lives from Amity. Why couldn't he see that? " _I'm sure that_ we'll be able to return. Once you're healed we can go back to fight."

He stared at his socks, frowning.

"We can't keep running forever, Danny."

"I'm not going back." He spoke blunting, bring the blanket closer. "Sam, Amity's done for. The G.I.W can try all they like to stop the ghosts, but they're way over their heads with what they're doing. They couldn't even stop a puny ghost before, now they've got no chance in hell."

"That's why you-"

"-And _if_ I go back, Sam, I'll either end up getting shot again, captured or even worse. Besides, they wouldn't want my help, no one does."

Sighing Sam looked over at Tucker, hoping he'd back her up. But the tech geek was too engrossed in his stupid phone. " Wait and see. I'm sure they will be begging for their town hero to come back and save their butts once everyone sees how pathetic the G.I.W are."

Danny laughed, Sam cringing at how dark it sounded. It didn't sound like him. " Yeah right, you saw the news."

"Honestly Danny! They're just making it worse than it is-"

"They don't want help from some half-ghost kid. The whole world now thinks I'm nothing more than a freak. A _dangerous f_ reak." He winced, glaring up at the ceiling. "Our secret got busted, and instead of being all happy and accepting of it they rejected us." He closed his eyes, taking a deep, painful breath. " My life as a hero is over."

Panic hit her. She had to tell him now that that wasn't true. He was just in a rough spot, a dark place of denial due to his grief. The world still needs him, more than ever. It was just like he said; the G.I.W couldn't handle this. But he could! Sam leaned closer, licking her dry lips. She had to get him to stop thinking like this before he gave up completely.

"Danny-"

"Err guys," Tucker cut it, voice echoing way too loud. "We've got to move."

Danny opened his eyes as Sam stilled, the cold suddenly gripping her. Tucker jumped up, half tripping over his blanket as he rushed over to them. Sam found she'd met him halfway, gripping his wrist.

"How?"

Without a word, Tucker showed her the PDA. A news article was open, the black text jumping out at her in the dim light. Her name, it was the first thing Sam saw. Her full name mentioned, along with two names she didn't know. But as she continued to read the article it's message became clear; she'd been sighted by a couple. And the G.I.W were investigating the site.

"Seems you were wrong about them," Tucker muttered as Sam's heart broke. They'd recognized her and then told the cops. Her first instincts had been right all along, they had betrayed her.

Violently she pushed the PDA away, mind reeling. "Get the bags. We've got to move. _Now!_ "

Tucker nodded, quickly dashing away to pack his bag of the stuff. Sam ran to the sleeping spot, stuffing the sleeping bags away as quickly as possible. It felt like they had little time, minor things dragged on for far too long. Sweat built on Sam's brow, ever crack and creak from the church soundly like footsteps outside. When finally to her relief everything was done she noticed Danny hadn't moved from the pew.

Lunging her backpack over her shoulder she jogged to him, dragging his own pack along. " Danny, are you okay to travel? I'll carry your pack if your wounds still causing you… trouble…"

He didn't respond, still looking down at his feet. Sam's heart leaped into her mouth. No, he couldn't have given up.

"Danny? Come on, we've got to get you out of here before they find my tracks. They could be here in minutes." With a grunt she threw his pack onto her left shoulder, swaying from the weight. Making sure it was safely in place Sam crossed the last distance between them, extending her hand. "Let's go."

At first, it seemed like he hadn't heard her, unmoved. But just as she was about to ask again he dully looked up at her, gripping his wounded side. At that look, it took all of Sam's willpower not to give up. Those blue eyes of his were void of light, dull and grey. They were the eyes of someone completely defeated.

"Come on dude,' Tucker had sneaked up behind her, making her jump in fright. He offered his hand also, a weak, pathetic grin on his face. " You don't want those scatterbrained ghost hunter-wannabes catching you, right? It'll ruin your Danny Phantom rep for good if they do."

Something snapped within Danny, his eyebrow twitched. For a moment their Danny came back as his face fell into a scowl, eyes flecked with green at the thought of being showed up by those losers. He suddenly took both their hands, letting them pull him up. Tucker quickly took his full weight, letting him hold onto his shoulder. He then nodded to her, a slight, real smile appearing.

"You lead, I'll guard the back."

She nodded back, somehow not trusting herself to speak. Sam turned, heading toward the moldy entrance with a quivering breath, stepping out into the snow.

###

As night began to fall, Sam knew they couldn't keep going. It was now freezing, the clear blue sky letting out any heat. After walking for hours north, they had come across a lonely farmhouse, just off the road. She had left the two, almost crawling through the snow on her stomach to get a better view of the house. But as she watched the place, it became clear this was just another abandoned place. Though it was a dangerous place to stop, too open, too tempting to other people, she and Tucker knew that they had too. Not just because of the coming night, but because Danny's wounds had fully opened again.

Once the coast was clear Tucker guided Danny into the front-yard, helping him sit down on the first concrete step. Sam had re-traced their steps, tying the cover up the trail of red that Danny had left. But it was no good, the bright white snow mixed easily with the blood, leaving a clear, gory trailed to them.

With a sigh, she gave up. There was nothing they could do about the blood, they'd just have to hope that the G.I.W or anything else didn't find stumble across it. Retreating back Sam froze at the sight of Danny; who was puffing hard, gripping his side tightly as blood ran freely through his fingers. Tucker sent her a nervous look, looking like he was about to throw up. He bent over, whispering into her ear.

" Sam, I think that Danny's serious-"

She didn't let him finished, pushing him away to crouch down in front of Danny. Sliding her backpack off she almost ripped it in half at the zipper, digging around for the bandages and the painkillers.

" Dammit, you should have told me earlier that it open!" unwrapping the end of a new bandage roll she bent down to remove his hand. "Let me-"

"I-it's fine!" Danny snapped, whacked her hand away. Sam stilled in shock, boiling hot drops landing on her face.

At that moment she'd had enough of Danny's fool mood. He was acting like the biggest idiot, and it was time for a wake-up call. She was done with this childish behavior, this lack of care for his own condition. Standing, hands trembling, her voice almost came out at a growl. "Tuck, break into the house. Where staying here overnight."

"Um… I really don't think that's a good idea-"

 _"-Now."_

"Okay, okay… on it." Tucker dumped his pack and hurried off, not wanting to be on the receiving end of Sam's warpath.

She returned her glare down at him, hands curling into fists as Danny leaned over more, doubled up in pain as sweat dripped off his forehead. The bleeding flow was exactly like it had been when they had found him in the alleyway, seeping down his leg into a puddle on the snow. There was no doubt in her mind now that Danny was doing this on purpose.

"Okay Buddy, you listen to me! I don't want to hear any more of your sulking and depressing junk, you need to stop blocking your healing powers. Right now, Danny!"

He flinched like she'd slapped him, guilt written all over his face. "You-"

"Oh come on! You seriously think I wouldn't figure out you're preventing you healing power!? Of course, I would you idiot! Those gunshot holes should be nothing more than a nasty scar by now. Yet it's been two weeks… _two weeks_ and that stupid wound is still bleeding like you were shot yesterday."

He looked away, anywhere but her. "I-I can't heal it."

 _"You can't heal it!"_ she repeated, surprising herself at how venomous it sounded. " Oh that's funny, you never had any trouble healing before. And your ghost powers seemed to be working just fine, so it can't be that now, could it?"

Danny chewed his lip, staring at her pack.

" Are you doing this as some kind of punishment for yourself then? Is this some sick twisted way to make you feel better about everything?"

" You don't understand-"

 _"-Understand!?"_ Sam couldn't believe it, it was like _he'd_ slapped _her._ She jabbed her finger into her chest, her voice cracking "You're not the only one that's lost everything! I don't even know if my family is still alive. They could be all dead in the crumbled wreckage of my house for all I know! At least you _know_ that your family's gone!"

In the back of her mind, Sam knew crossed a dangerous line, seeing how Danny's gaze darkened and how he gripped his knee tightly. Yet she didn't care, to hell with being all polite and sympathetic. It was time he faced the cold, hard truth as they had.

"You can't keep being depressed that they're gone. Me and Tuck, we know that our families are likely dead, yet we both know the moment we accept that we'll give up. But Danny, you can't afford to be like us, you're the only one who can stop this nightmare. You're the only one with the power to stop the ghosts at Amity Park."

He shook his head, teeth gritted. " I don't have any power…"

"No power! Did you somehow hit your head and forget that you're _Half Ghost!_ If anyone can save the world it's you-"

 _" I CAN'T SAVE ANYONE!"_ Danny roared, suddenly standing up so quickly that Sam took a step back. His eyes glowed dazzling green, so bright that Sam could hardly see his pupils. The air around them changed, the freezing air intensifying. Ice rippled out from around them, Sam's clothes and hair suddenly covered in frost. She'd never seen him so angry, so full of rage that the very atmosphere around him changed.

He pointed a finger at her, shaking. " If I hadn't been so careless, I could have saved them! If I didn't take that damn phone call from Jazz, if I didn't leave Casper High, if _I didn't let myself get shot_ , then people would still be alive!" he was yelling now, all care of hiding gone. " Don't you see? The only reason you and Tucker are still alive is because you followed me when I left. Your both alive because of a fluke. A damn FLUKE! And now you're telling me that I, the idiot that was the cause of everyone's deaths, that I'm the one to save the Amity park!? You must be joking!"

Sam was speechless, not knowing what she could say that would calm him. Tucker rushed back from the house at the sounds of yelling, quickly placing himself between them like some sort of barrier. " Whoa now dude, calm down-"

Danny pushed him away sending him tumbling to the snow, glaring at Sam as the feeling around them darken. "I thought that after all the alternate timeline I'd never let something like this happen, never again. But it seems it's my fate to stuff things up. Because of me, my parents, my sister, Dani, Valerie, all of Casper high. Hell, all of Amity Park is probably gone because of me! And not only that, I've caused both our secret identities being revealed to the world. Vlad and I will be on the run from the authorities for the rest of our lives. I've literately ruined everything!"

He wobbled, the energy wave suddenly weakening as he gasped. All that yelling had made the wound worse. "I… things were not supposed to end up like this. Not like this… I… _shouldn't_ have survived."

Then it hit her, a gasp escaping her mouth as she realizing the truth. Sam had thought Danny was in this state because he'd lost everything, that he was distraught because he had lost his family. And while that was true to some degree, it wasn't the real reason he wasn't healing the gunshot holes. It had never even crossed her mind at any point that Danny might feel guilty about getting away from Amity Park. But of course, it made perfect sense to her now, Danny was a hero, and heros always won.

And yet, this time he hadn't.

Danny stepped away from both of them, looking down at his bloody hands like he'd realized something horrible. " Y-you both have to get away from me as quickly as you can. I-If you stay-"

Sam didn't want to hear any more words from him. Ignoring the icy air he was letting off she rushed forward, crushing him into the tightest hug she could manage. Danny gasped in pain, tensing when she pulled on his wounds, but it didn't stop her, not even her embarrassment of what she was doing could stop her. Somehow, Sam knew she had to try and tell him that what he was thinking wasn't true.

"It's not your fault," she muttered softly, yet hoping he could still hear it. " No one could have stopped what happened."

Hands gripped her shoulders strongly, and Sam tried tightening her grip further. She knew with one good tug he could push her away, she was pitifully weak against his ghostly strength. Yet he paused.

"…I should have been able to..."

"We don't know that. No one does," she closed her eyes when she caught Tucker staring slack-jawed at her, pushing down her awkwardness that fluttered in her chest. "Like with that timeline stuff, it happened. It's… not all bad though. The three of us are still alive, and that means we still have a chance to fix this. Tucker and I are _here_ , and you know we'd follow you to the ends of the earth if you ever tried to ditch us. And there's no way we're going to die on you, you can count on that."

She felt him shuddered underneath her. So close, she knew that their Danny was so close to coming back. That he was moments for finally agreeing to the truth.

"Listen to me," Sam voiced strongly, making her point clear. "I don't know what you're really thinking, and honestly, I don't really know what happened back there. But I will say this; you're not allowed to die, you hear me? As long as I and Tuck are alive, you're not giving up, we won't let you for a single moment even consider it. And at some point, promise me that you'll at least try to save Amity Park. Your parents, Jazz, Valerie, Dani, they're all still counting on you to win, right?"

The tautness left his body, hands slipping from her shoulders. Without warning, he wrapped his arms around her so bone-crushingly hard she could barely breathe. Next minute all his weight fell on her, his legs buckling as he weakened from the sudden flow of emotions. Sam dropped with him so that she wouldn't fall backward's, refusing to let him go encase he went back to his miserable self. This was it, the second stage of his grief. Danny needed this moment more than anything, and she didn't what him to face it alone.

"E-everyone's gone," he spoke into her shoulder, Sam barely hearing it as his voice cracked with pain.

"No, they're not, stupid." She said, rubbing his back like her Dad used to do when she cried. " We're still alive."

Tucker suddenly spoke, cutting the moment. "I'll… go check if the house is secure." Sam opened her eyes, seeing him rubbing his eyes. She nodded as the Tucker quickly left, disappearing around the corner. She was grateful for that, not really wanting Tucker to watch her in such an embarrassing state. Any other time she would have died to be caught like this. But she just kept comforting him, muffling his sobs as best she could as they turned into howls, blocking that awful sound from the world. Finally, Danny's heart had shattered, accepting the cold, hard reality.


	4. Chapter 4

**_CHAPTER 4: STILL ALIVE INSIDE_**

Sam had finally left him alone, leaving him upstairs in the main bedroom. And for that he was grateful. As she'd shut the door she'd whispered that she would be back soon, once they'd explored and secured the house for any major risks. And then, she was gone.

Danny felt horrible with himself. Not because he'd just balled his eyes out on his best friend's shoulder, and that was embarrassing enough, but because he hadn't noticed how cold Sam had gotten. By the time he'd come to his senses Sam had been shivering, lips almost blue from both the air and himself. It was another stupid thing he'd ended up causing. What if she'd ended up with hypothermia because of him? What if he'd caused her to fall ill? All because he was an idiot to not have realized sooner.

Gazing around the cozy, cluttered room, Danny couldn't believe any of this was real. It was like he'd waken from a never-ending nightmare, everything way too clear, too focused now to be real. How did he even get here? Last he could properly remember he'd been sitting in class, his cell phone buzzing in his pocket. He'd taken that call, and then…then.

He squeezed his eyes closed at the pain in his chest. No, not yet. He couldn't think of that now. After finally been able to accept what happened he couldn't fall back at that memory. Maybe when he had the guts to tells his friends what had really had happened, then; and only then, could he face it.

Instead, he opened his burning eyes, clearing his nose on his sleeve, and gazed about the room. It looked like it belonged to an old couple from all the doilies and knitwork everywhere. Photographs lined the wall and shelves of family member's Danny wouldn't ever know. There were two doors, one that Sam had left from an another that he'd guessed was a bathroom. One, and the only window was hidden tightly by a red silk curtain. And of course, there was the squishy patchwork-covered bed he was sitting on.

And then his eyes fell onto the clock radio by the bed, the time burning bright green in the dull room. Tucker and Sam had blocked as much as they could of the news to him. But mostly he hadn't care anyhow. But now…curiosity got the better of him. What was it like around the state?

Being careful of his wounds Danny crawled down the other end of the bed, switching on the lamp. Under its amber glow, he read the dials, quickly working out what he needed to do. Pressing the button for the radio, he was greeted with a blast of sound, a popular song blaring around the room. In panic Danny covered the speakers with his hands, eyes glued to the door in case his friends had heard. But the door remained closed. With his little-finger he turned down the volume, relieved as it dimmed to a muffled hum. Removing his hands Danny frowned as the song played on. Wasn't the country supposed to be in meltdown?

The song ended, bringing after it the normal barrage of adverts. Danny waited, tucking one of the soft, lavender-smelling pillows under his chin. It was somewhat calming, hearing such a normal, familiar sound in such a soothing place. His Dad always used to crank up the radio on long road trips like this, humming along to the jiggles in the ad-breaks, stubby fingers tapping on the steering wheel. Mom would join along after a while, trying to get him and Jazz to hum also. Danny smiled, closing his eyes as he remembered the memory so clearly, their laughter ringing in his head. Why hadn't he notice that before? Something so small but now…it seemed like the greatest thing in the world.

He was crying again, the hot tears dripping down his cheeks before he knew it. Wiping them away he almost laughed at the craziness of everything, he was going to have to get used to this. Almost every little thing could and would remind him of his family. This house, this radio, hell, even the smell of this place reminded him of his Aunt's home that Mom would force them to visit each year. Once the radio finished with the ads with a bang, the theme song for the network playing in a mash of random sounds audio clips. A buzzing noise rung as a pre-recorded news headline started-

 _"Danny!?"_

At the ringing from the radio, Danny gasped, the bedroom falling away as he was consumed into _that_ memory.

 _"Danny!? Danny are you there!?_

 _"Jazz?" he'd whispered back, head ducked under his desk. Something was off, her voice was too thin, too high to the point that if he hadn't seen her caller ID he wouldn't believe it was her._

 _There was a bang, static before Jazz gasped into the phone. " I-I don't know what's going on, but the portal… it's out of control! Mom and Dad can't shut it down!"_

 _"Whoa Jazz slow down, what's this about the portal?"_

 _"I just got back from school, but the house… all the security sensors as going crazy!" He heard her gasp, shutting a door. "Dad's not letting me into the lab, so I have no idea what's going on down there. But you have to get back here. Pronto!"_

 _"Um…Jazz, kind of in the middle of class-"_

 _"Danny! Who cares about class! You get your Phantom butt over here right now!"_

 _He almost dropped his cell phone. Jazz; didn't care about class? This must be bad for her to dismiss his failing studies._

 _There was another bang, louder than the first. Jazz cried out and Danny froze, heart skipping a beat._

 _" I think…" Jazz panted, whispering into speaker, a nervous tone ringing in her voice " Danny, I think-"_

 _The line cut, leaving Danny with nothing._

 _"Jazz? Jazz!?" he jumped out of his seat violently, everyone in the class turning back to him in surprise._

 _"Mr. Fenton!" Mr. Lancer scowled from the front, turning from the board. "We do not answer the phone in my class! Now please sit back down before you earn yourself a week's detention!"_

 _The class snickered back, but Danny's mind was reeling. He had to get home. Now. Glancing down at both his friends he saw that they knew something was up, this wasn't a case of his ghost sense going off in the middle of class. That this wasn't a Box Ghost._

 _Weakly he raised his hand, skirting around his desk as he went. " Have to go to the bathroom…"_

 _Quickly he was out the classroom door, Mr. Lancer yelling after him. "Dante's Inferno! You get back here now, Fenton!"_

 _But he didn't stop, phasing into the janitor's cupboard. In a flash he went ghost, soaring invisible up and out of the school. Like a rocket he zoomed toward his house, praying that he didn't find it blown up. But as the Fenton sign came into view, everything seemed quiet. Way too quiet. Without stopping he phased into the living room, hovering at the door._

 _The house was silent, no alarms, no banging, nothing like what it sounded over the phone. In the few minutes, he'd been on the phone to Jazz something must have happened._

 _"Jazz? Mom? Dad?" he called, all but forgetting that he was in his ghost persona, his parents would freak if they saw Phantom called them that. But that was the least of his problems. His ghost sense hadn't gone off, yet there was this feeling, cold and strange that rattled the hairs on the back of his neck. Nervously he drifted to the lab door, turning the handle slowly. In the back of his mind, something told him not to go down there, but he shrugged it off. That was stupid, Dad probably just didn't clean the ecto-filter again…_

 _Swinging the door open he peered down the metal stairs, spotting the dancing green glow from the portal on the floor. Drifting down he made it to the bottom of the stairs. And-_

Danny retched, half-tumbling off the bed in a tangle of limbs and comforter. Holding a hand to his mouth he phased through the bathroom door, making a beeline to the toilet. Kneeling there he emptied what little there was left in his stomach, shivering as that vision kept flashing in his mind. _That_ he had wanted to forget most of all was swimming in front of his eyes, refusing to disappear. It was too much for him to handle, his insides twisting in agony.

"Danny?"

Coughing, he peeked over the rim of the bowl to find Sam at the doorway, looking down at him in fright. His hearing pecked up, a voice from the radio echoing in the small space.

 _"…We advise you to follow your area's evacuation processors-"_

"Turn that stupid thing off!" he moaned, gripping his head in his hands. He didn't need another bad news dump on him now. Not after _that_.

The thankful click from the radio, and then blissfully nothing. Sam returned with a rustle of her jacket and the familiar sound of her combat boots, crouching next to him. " You okay?"

Danny gulped in a much air as he could, steadily his breathing. "I just… recalled something I didn't want to."

"Oh," it sounded dejected like she didn't quite know what to say to that. While Sam did know the basics of what had happened in Amity Park, neither she nor Tucker knew just how bad things had got. They both had no idea what he'd saw in his house.

Thanks to Sam's presence the memory faded, leaving him feeling hot and clammy.

"I found… something," Sam's voice echoing out loudly in the small space, a clicking jolting his nerves as he looked over at her. In her hands was a tin box, a large red cross painted on the front. For the first time in a while, she smiled, digging around in its contents. " Whoever lived here must have forgotten to take their First Aid kit… and that's not all," she took out a smaller tin, tilting it so that he could see inside. It only told one look at the long needle to know what it was.

Sam nodded, seeing his dismayed reaction. " You have no idea how long I looked for this... Now we can close that wound up for good."

Danny chewed his lip, eyeing the needle in her hand. He never did like getting stitched up, and here they wouldn't have any of that numbing cream to help. But he knew Sam wouldn't give up unless she'd stitched him up, she'd probably wait until he was asleep to try.

"Alright…" he sighed, using the toilet bowl to hoist himself up. If he was going to do this, it wouldn't be on the bathroom floor. While Sam prepped the needle, Danny focused on tugging off his half-glued shirt. The blood from earlier had dried, making it a task just to rip it over his head. One thing for such was that he made sure he didn't look into the mirror, knowing he wouldn't like what he saw there. Once the dirty thing was off he threw it in the bathtub, glancing down at the brown mess on his stomach.

Sam suddenly stood, heading back into the bedroom swiftly. " I'll… wait out here."

"Yeah," he grumbled back, ducking into the shower still half dressed. As much as he would have liked to take his time; he couldn't remember the last time he'd bathed, Danny wanted this to be over as soon as physically possible. Once clean he let the water pass through, returning back to the room. Sam had laid out the contents of the tin, making a mental note of each item. He sat down next to her, pushing a box of band-aids out of the way.

"This is perfect; now we finally have a complete medic kit for emergencies." Sam picked up the needle carefully, thread the string through.

"Hopefully we'll never use it again."

"Can't be too careful. I'll do the front first." She wriggled forward but paused in surprise at the same time Danny realized as well.

The wound had closed over. There was a nasty scab, purple and yellow buries blooming around the site. But it was not bleeding anymore, the gunshot wound looking months healed. Danny hadn't even noticed his powers kick back into full gear, he must have done it subconsciously after the breakdown.

"Huh? Would you look at that." He huffed, secretly relieved to have avoided the stitching.

Sam dropped her hands into her lap, annoyingly glaring back at him. "Seriously? After all that worry you put me through, you've healed it just like that? You're such a knucklehead."

Danny chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, I remember promising someone that I can't die, so dying of blood loss would kind of ruin that, wouldn't it?"

She searched his face, smiling softly when she saw that spark back in his eyes. "Good to have you back, Danny."

"I'm glad to be back. Well, somewhat back," he stretched, wincing at the tightness of muscles. "I still feel like crap, and I've got this headache like you would believe! But yeah, I suppose I'm back."

Sighing Sam put down the needle, instead of picking up a small brown bottle. " You might not need stitches, but I'm still putting some antiseptic on that. No way can we let them get infected."

He cringed at the thought, already feeling the sting. "Can't we skip that? Give me a few days of sleep and rest and it will barely be there!"

Dipping the liquid on a small, white cloth, Sam smirked. "Tough luck hero, you're not getting out of this."

Danny's smiled faltered at that. She shouldn't call him a hero, after all, he wasn't one now. He could feel the aching in his chest, the tears inches from coming back. But one look at her frighted face made him shake his head, putting on a smile. " Fine, but do it quick, alright?"

She nodded slowly, dabbing the cloth. It stung like hell, Danny gritting his teeth in pain. But all too soon both sides were done. With practiced experience, Sam bound the injuries. Finally, content with how Danny's wounds were on the mend.

"There, done."

Rubbing his sore jaw Danny grumbled, inspecting the new wrapping. "You'd think by now I'd be used to this."

"It's a good thing that you're not. Being used to _this_ means it happens way too much."

"That's funny, I remember getting beaten up by ghost's every day. I say that's counts as 'too much'."

Sam frowned, obviously wanted to say more. But whatever it was she dismissed with a sigh, leaning over the bed to grab a green sweater draped on the quilt. "Here, I found this in the sitting room. Its… it's not exactly, well…it's better than nothing."

Danny laid it on his lap, looking at the familiar white knitted figures covering the middle. It was a Christmas sweater, one of those dorky hand knitted things that he was always forced to wear for the holidays.

"Merry Christmas." He said dryly, Sam bursting out in laughter at his face.

"I know you hate Christmas, but it _is_ only a few weeks away."

He huffed, tugging the ugly thing over his head. As uncomfortable as this thing was, it was nice to hear Sam laugh so carefree. It was a fair trade.

"Hey, It's not that bad." She laughed, covering her mouth with a hand.

"It dorky, that's what it is."

Tucking the tin under her arm Sam padded over to the doorway, pausing at the entrance. " You can stay here if you want to rest, okay? Tucker and I have got this place secure. And what more," she grinned in excitement, leaning against the door frame. " The cupboards are _loaded_ with food. We can camp here for weeks if everything goes to plan."

One look at the room was all Danny needed to know he didn't want to be alone with his thoughts. Standing he followed her out, tugging at the scratchy sleeves. "…I'll sleep later. I'm starving."

She grinned at him, swiftly heading down the stairs. The main sitting room was just off the hallway, the kitchen nestled comfortably at the other end. Tucker was stretched out across a couch, his PDA charging happily at his side. He looked up as the two entered, choking back a laugh at the sight of Danny.

"Dude, nice sweater. We should set up a Christmas tree and sing carols to lighten the mood."

"Great idea Tuck. And I can make it snow. _Inside._ "

Tucker looked genuinely surprised at his response, not having expected him to answer him at all. But grasping what he'd said he burst into laughter. " Come on man, how could I resist!"

Grumbling Danny followed Sam to the kitchen, spotting their cell phones charging on the wall. Where on earth did Tuck find all those cables? But then thinking about it he sighed. Of course, Tucker's main possession to take when on the run would be all his tech stuff.

Sam placed the First aid tin on the counter island, Danny sliding onto one of the stools. "Now," she tutted, opening cupboards. "Time to get dinner done. Which lazy bones over there was supposed to start over an hour ago."

"Hey! I've had more pressing matters to deal with! Betty was only 3% from passing away!"

"I'll smash 'Betty' if you kept complaining about it."

Tucker gasped, wrapping his arms protectively around the PDA, muttering. "Don't listen to her Betty! She'd just jealous."

Danny snickered at the sight him cooing over a phone, leaning his back on the countertop. "Don't even bother arguing with her Tuck, you lose every time."

Tucker sniffed. "Some best friend you are, not even standing up when a buddy's true love is in danger."

"Urgh, you two are hopeless," Sam grumbled, searching through the pantry.

At her frustration Danny grinned, turning around again to watch Sam bring out an array of foodstuffs. At the sight of more tin vegetables he frowned, Sam caught his eye with a smirk, handing him a can.

"Since you having eaten much since we left Amity, I'm adding this to our dinner tonight."

He frowned and read the label, wrinkling his nose in disgust when he saw what they were.

"Lentils? You're kidding?"

"Nope. They're extremely healthy for you. Besides, there full of iron, which you'll need after all that blood you lost."

Danny pushed the can away, slumping down on the counter. "I've suddenly lost my appetite."

"I second that," Tucker called from the couch.

Sam scowled, waving a spoon towards the door, "Oh shut it, you flesh-eater!"

Sam ignored Tucker's anti-veggie comeback and starting pulling pans from a cupboard. Danny suddenly felt his eyes grow heavy, exhaustion clouding his head. He'd barely slept at all, and now that they were in a safe, warm place he could finally let his guard down. Sure, just on the surface he still felt the hollowness he'd been fighting. That with one word, one sound, he would have another breakdown. But after what happened today he oddly felt a weight lift off his shoulders. For the first time since all this happened, he felt he could look forward to the future. His eyelids drooped, he could let his guard down for a little while. Right?

"Danny?" a light touch on his shoulder.

"Hmm?" he blinked dumbly, looking up at Sam in confusion. How did she get behind him?

"Come on sleepyhead, dinners ready."

Oh, he must have dozed off. Stretching he rose, heading over to the small dining table tucked in the corner. Tucker was already there, a look of absolute horror at the sight of the dinner Sam had made. The sight of Sam's furious face and Tucker's disgust was too amusing for Danny and he laughed, like how it felt. Like a wave, it seemed to light everyone's mood. Soon the trio was bursting with laughter, happy for the first time that they could remember.

"Aw man," Tucker gasped, rubbing the happy tears from his eyes. "We're all going to die of food poisoning."

"Don't be ridiculous! At least try before you judge it."

Tucker slumped down in his chair, poking the lump of veggies with his fork. "I can tell it's going to suck from the smell."

Danny pulled his chair out, grinning. "Well, at least it's better than all the tin soup-"

A loud buzzing sound made them all jump. Danny immediately recognizing that it was coming from his cell phone. It didn't take him much thinking to figure out who it was. Before the others could react he swiftly walked over to the wall, unplugging it from the charger. Sam was the first to snap out of shock and marched over with cheeks flushing in anger.

"Why can't that jerk take a hint!"

Danny frowned, looking at the name _The Fruitloop_ popped up on the screen. He knew Vlad undoubtedly wanted to talk to him, desperately, each day the ringing became more frequent. And since this was the Fruitloop they were talking about, Danny knew he'd never stop till he answered. " I should answer just once, so he knows I'm alive."

She snatched the phone from him, tapping the ignore icon. "There, now he knows you're alive."

He chuckled when the phone rang almost instantly. Now she'd done it. With a long, tired sigh, Danny gently took it from her, heading out into the hallway.

"No Danny, don't-"

He raised a hand to stop her at the doorway. "It's alright." Smiling weakly back he strolled out of the room. Taking a deep breath, he was surprised to feel slightly afraid of answering the phone. The last time he did, well, that hadn't gone well. Accepting the call, he placed it to his ear, preparing for the worst. "What?"

 _"Dani-el?"_ The reception on the other end crackled in his ear, the man's voice echoing like he was in some sort of long tunnel. _"Ah, Cin-namon rolls, Thank g-oodness you're alright! Wh-ere are you?"_

"I'm fine Plasmius." Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted his friends peering around the door frame, both looking heavily suspicious at the phone. He rolled his eyes at them and leaned against the wall, staring up at the dusty antique light above.

 _"W-here are you?"_ he repeated, voice snapping in the static.

"It doesn't matter where I am."

 _"Da-Dammit Daniel, this is no tim-e for your childish grudge-s! If you haven't so-o blatantly notice that th-e state of affairs we are in is c-rucial! What is w-wrong with you?"_

Danny scowled at that. Of course, he knew that things were crucial, he wasn't an idiot! But as he was about to tell him just that Danny paused, remembering his friends were hovering nearby. He wasn't nervous that they were there. But neither knew what had gone down once he'd left Casper high. They didn't know what Plasmius had done. " Look; we got out of Amity Park alright. That's the main thing."

Vlad huffed irritated on the other end. _"That's no-ot what I!- Wait, "we"?… Those friends of y-ours with you?"_

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?" He hoped Vlad wound understand what he was trying to say, that his lack of information was because of them. Truthfully Danny had a barrage of questions he wanted to ask the other Half-ghost. What had happened? Where was he? And more importantly, was _he_ alright? Because the last time Danny had seen him he'd feared it would be for the last time.

 _"I-I supposed…not. At least I sho-uld be grateful you not on yo-ur own."_

Danny didn't respond to that, listening to the crackling on Vlad's side for some clues as to where he was. The man was walking, but that was all he could tell.

 _"Where y-ou followed?"_

"No, we don't think so." He leaned further against the wall, frowning at the glass-paned front door. "Last time we saw the G.I.W was at a service station just outside of Amity. So far, it's been good. But-"

 _"Th-e new's report, I saw."_

 _"_ Yeah."

Danny heard the unmistakable sound of Vlad's black rings, a blast of wind drowning out the speaker. Thankfully the extra height cleared up the crackling, now he just had trouble hearing him over the wind.

 _"This is important Daniel; I need to know where you are. As much as it pains me to say it and for you to acknowledge it, staying apart like this will only put us in more danger. I'll be blunt so you can understand. Right now, we have a world against us. I have no human allies left, Skulker is not answering his communication device and I have zero resources at my disposal. While you have your annoying friends with you, you know as well as I do that they're dead weight to you. This isn't like Amity Park where we were playing the little hero game anymore. People will try and kill you and your friends if they fear for their own safety. You understand what I'm saying, my boy?"_

At any other time, Danny would have laughed in his face and hung up on him. But… things were different now. Vlad was frustratingly right in a way, acting arrogant about past grudges was pointless. With Plasmius here with them, they would double their chances of staying ahead of their pursuers. If they did get into trouble, with Plasmius's fighting power and experience they would be a stronger chance of getting away. And secretly, after everything that had happened, Danny knew deep down he wasn't in any state of mind to protect anyone right now. But if Vlad actually had the heart to, he knew he could.

And yet, Danny thought as he chewed his lip, there were Sam and Tucker to think of. They would never accept this, not from the Fruitloop. While Tucker might be a bit more 'giving' at the idea of Plasmius helping them, Sam would never buy it. It could cause a rift between them all. And that could be dangerous with what was coming after them.

"Not happening." He muttered, looking over at the two. Even though they both couldn't hear what Vlad had just said to him, at Danny's comment they nodded encouragingly.

 _"Blast those meddling friends of yours! They won't let me near you, will they?"_

"That's not it."

 _"…So, you haven't told them, have you?"_

"No, of course not."

 _" All that they know is from the new reports?"_

"Yep."

 _"You do realize that's only going to make things harder in the future, Hmm?"_

"Thank you for pointing out the obvious." He didn't want to get into this subject on the phone. Not now. The radio drama had been bad enough.

 _"Then tell me this Daniel; do_ you _want me to come to you?"_

He paused, staring at the wooden floor beneath his feet. He was surprised that Vlad was even giving him a choice at all. But he already knew his answer at once.

"…Yeah."

 _"Very well. When you get a chance, ring me to tell me where you are. Don't text it! That's too traceable. Until then I'll head to the place Samantha was spotted and head north from there. I imagine you would have done the same_."

"Err, isn't that like…dangerous?"

 _"Well, until you give me your exact location I'm going to have to improvise. Won't I?"_

He chewed his lip harder at that. Great, Vlad was putting himself in more danger because of him. Again.

" Well, do whatever you want. But stop calling me. Especially at like five am in the morning. We're all trying to get some sleep and we don't need you bugging us with your dumb issues."

Plasmius chuckled on the other end. _"Tomorrow morning then, I'll look forward to your call."_

And with that Vlad hanged up, leaving him with dead silence. He shut off his phone, scowling to hide his sudden unease from the others. Danny didn't like this, this feeling he had talked to Plasmius. Something was wrong with the other half ghost. Whether it was because he was hiding something or that something else had happened that he wasn't telling him, the man was acting too...nice. And it was starting to creep him out.

Sam marched up to him, glaring at the cell phone in his hand like Vlad was about to make it explode. "What did that jerk want?"

"He wanted to know where I was."

" And did you tell him!?"

He rolled his eyes. "You heard me talk, of course not! Why would I tell the Fruitloop were we are?" He quickly turned away from Sam and headed back into the other room, feeling her suspicious eyes boring into his back. He was never a good liar, and he feared if she looked at his face long enough she'd figure out what he was about to do.

Tucker thankfully cut in, saving Danny from her dark gaze. " Well, that's over. Oh, what a shame, dinners gone cold. Guess we'll have to have something else-"

"Oh no, you're eating it!" she snapped, grabbing their plates and stomped over to the kitchen. " I'm re-heating these, and you're going to eat it."

Danny gripped the top of his chair, staring at the checked tablecloth on the table. His mind was whirling with 'what ifs'. Should he tell the others that he was going to ask Vlad to come to them? But was it even worth the fight he'd get into with Sam? He didn't know what to do anymore. There was no plan, no wacky idea that he could see to escape this nightmare. Even his friends were pulling straws right now. How long could they all keep this up alone? It made sense getting help from one of the few people that _would_ help them. He wasn't wrong in thinking that, was he?

"You okay Danny?" he flew out of his thoughts, Tucker frowning at him beside him as he whispered so that Sam couldn't overhear.

"Oh… Yeah. I'm just…really tried, that's all."

His best friend nodded, watching Sam figure out the microwave with a string of curses. "If it's anything to you, I think you did the right thing."

"What!?"

"Talking to Vlad." Tucker cringed, scratching his nose. "Look. We all know we can't avoid Plasmius forever, I mean, think about it. The G.I.W are hunting him down too, he's got no allies, and everyone now knows he's half ghost. So, he's got nothing really to gain betraying us. Sam just…wants to delay the inevitable. I think."

Danny relaxed when he realized Tucker didn't know the truth. "Right."

"Unless…" The geek leaned in closer, eyebrow curling in suspicion. "Plasmius is involved in all this. Like, the main reason we're on the run involved."

Sighing Danny sat down, rubbing his hands together. "No, that's not it… It's…complicated Tuck. I'll…tell you when I can, alright."

Thankfully his best friend dropped it with a small nod, joining him at the table to wait for their disaster meal. Danny staring at his hands, dreading tomorrow and what he was going to say. No matter what happened, he just knew Sam was going to hate him forever…


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5 - WHEN THE NIGHT COMES**

The next morning Danny woke to Tucker's loud snoring. The radio clock telling him it was almost five in the morning. He lay there, breathing through his nose as he stared at the ceiling. Sam should still be fast asleep, she never had been an early riser. That meant it was a perfect time to do what he wanted to do.

Gently, so as not to wake Tuck, Danny got up and left the room, padding noiselessly down the hall. Once in the living space, he grabbed his cell phone, quickly stuffing it in his pocket. Passing through the door in the kitchen he found himself outside, the backyard lined with a white pitted fence. Spotted an oak tree in the far corner of the yard he made his way to it, sitting down in the roots till he was comfortable.

It was icy cold, wonderful weather to his core. Taking a deep, grateful breath Danny fished his cell phone out, cupping it in his hand. This was a crazy plan, but after last night, Danny had wanted to talk to Vlad alone, without his overprotective friends hovering around his shoulder. But at the same time, he was scared too. He and Vlad had never been… well, on good speaking terms, and now things just seemed way too weird for that to change.

Instead of calling Danny opened his messages, typing out the main thing he'd wanted to ask Vlad.

 _Do you think there's a chance for us?_

He hit send, immediately regretting it. What the hell was Vlad going to think of that? Resting the phone on his knee he stared out to the house, watching the sky glow pink as the sun was just starting to rise. But all too soon his phone buzz back.

 _What do you think._

Danny scowled, stuffing the phone back into his pocket, wondering why he even bothered. Why had he even thought that the Cheesehead would even say anything good? As he picked at a hole in his jeans his cell phone buzzed again, but this time it was ringing.

Putting the phone to his ear he waited.

 _"I didn't mean it like that."_

"Oh? How did you mean it, Plasmius?"

 _"It was a question. What do you think of our chances?"_

Danny sighed, his anger draining out of him. " Absolute zero."

 _" Come now, I wouldn't say that…. Are you little friends with you?"_

"No. My _little_ friends are still asleep."

Vlad sighed, rustling sound on the other end like he was sitting up. Like Danny, he obviously had things he'd wanted to ask in private. His voice changed, lowering as it softened. _" Are your injuries gone?"_

" Their… okay. My wounds…they're just starting to heal now."

 _"That's too late."_ There was concern in Vlad's voice, Danny cringing. Plasmius was the last person he should be telling that too, after all, he understood their powers even better than Danny. _" Are they infected? Not burning, stinging, causing your regeneration powers trouble?"_

"No."

 _"Are you sure? Infection in wounds can halt our healing progress until they're expelled."_

"No, it's not infected"

 _"Then…were you blocking your-"_

"No Vlad! I wasn't!"

 _"Well, then, if that wasn't it, are your eating well enough? You need to keep your strength-"_

"- Stop babying me! I am eating now so I'm fine!"

 _"Now? That means that before you-"_

" _Vlad!_ " he whined, rubbing his temple. Why was it that he couldn't help but be nosy! "Can you just drop it?"

 _"I'm only trying to be helpful! You cannot let your health fail in this state of affairs Daniel. We must be at our full power at all times, now that we're faced with the constant unknown. What if you get caught in a fight? What if the G.I.W catch up to you? You won't be able to fight if you're too fatigued. And I doubt those friends of yours would do any better."_

 _"_ I know, I know!" Danny huffed, kicking the snow away. " Sam's been bugging about the same thing, I don't need you to start!"

 _"Smart girl, you should listen to her!"_

Picking at the hole harder, fuming. He hadn't rung the old man to be chewed out by him. This was serious! "Look. All I wanted to know if you were… um, okay. You… you're duplicate poofed, remember? And that doesn't happen unless you like, lose focus. And you never lose focus, unless your monologuing."

Vlad huffed, _" I'm quite fine, thank you. That was a mistake on my part, nothing more."_ He exhaled, grumbling himself. _" I should have never let a duplicate take you. I should have simply grabbed you and got us out of there, but I wasn't thinking clearly. You have to understand Daniel, that everything was happening too fast. I had no time to think of a proper plan."_

"…I know."

 _" And when I went to were my duplicate had last been and found you gone… I feared the worst."_

Danny laughed dryly. "Trust me, when your duplicate suddenly vanished on me I thought the same thing."

 _"Hmm. Well now that you've got that off your chest, are you going to tell me where you are?"_

"Yeah… you do realize my friends are going to hate me forever because of this. That, or when you get here Sam will throw everything in this house at you."

 _"They'll have to grow up, won't they."_

He shifted his legs into another position, they had started to go numb from the lack of movement. Danny still felt guilty at doing this behind his friend's backs, but if Vlad just showed up 'randomly", there would be nothing they could do about it. " We're at a farmhouse right now. Not sure where as Tuck's the one that's being following a map. But you were right; we did head north. If you get to the supermarket Sam was, nearby should be an old church. It's a little tricky to find, but if you find a rotting wooden fence, you're in the right spot. From there, this place should be a day's walk away."

Vlad was silent, Danny worried that he'd gone too fast. "You got all that?"

 _"Hang on…I'm just writing it down."_

"Wait, didn't you tell me not to text it? What's writing it down any better?"

 _"Cell phones and notes are easily misplaced. My forearm is not."_

"Oh."

There was an awkward silence after that, Danny not knowing what to say. He was waiting for Vlad to ask him the hard questions, questions that Danny never wanted to answer. But there was something he'd wanted to ask the man a while ago. Had he seen-

 _"How are you coping, Daniel?"_

Danny blinked, stunned at the question. The hole in his jeans was getting bigger, pulling at the strands. " I don't know. For two weeks… I think what happened has just hit me, you know? Sometimes I feel fine. And yet other times…"

 _"I understand."_

"Really?"

 _"Yes. More than you know."_

Vlad paused again, but his tone of voice change. _" I have to know Daniel. Did you at any point… did you go back to your house?"_

Everything froze, Danny's breath catching in his throat as that cursed image flashed in his mind. Bile rose in his throat as he gripped the cell phone tighter. "I-I-" his voice cracked and he quickly bit his finger hard, not trusting himself to go on. It hurt, physically hurt at a mere memory, something he never dreamed could be possible.

A sharp intake of breath sounded on the other end. "… _I'm so sorry."_

His eyes stung. Somehow hearing that from his enemy brought home how real this all was. It was wrong, Vlad should never sound this caring to him without any evil intent. It wasn't normal, for both of them.

"No…No. I was going to ask too. When did you…see."

 _"After the broadcast. It was the first place I went to."_

Danny frowned, running a hand through his messy hair. "Why?"

 _"Because I thought after our secret identities were revealed, it would be the first place you'd go."_

Of course, he would go there. His parents would have been the very first thought on his mind when the half-ghost was out of the bag. But there was one little problem to what Vlad said. Why had he even gone looking to find him in the first place?

"Why find me? I thought you'd save your own skin."

The man snort, _"Honestly, my boy, you always think like I don't have a heart! You're correct though. I could have fled Amity the moment that ghost uttered my name. But at that moment it dawned on me that our old lives were over. The only thing in my mind was making sure that you were safe."_

"You're only saying that because I'm half-ghost. I'm useful to you."

There was a pause, _" That is true; I won't bother denying that. But it isn't the sole reason."_

"And what's that?" he said, a little more bitter than he would have liked.

 _" I wanted you at my side because I believed you deserved better. No one your age should have to go through the trauma of what these powers bring. What is happening now is the truth of that. I felt that you were wasting your potential by pushing your own needs aside for the sake of others. Your obsession to be a hero was destroying your potential."_

"And what's wrong with wanting to be a hero!"

 _"Sometimes my boy, you need to be selfish and put yourself first."_

"Geeze Fruitloop, of course you'd say that. You _always_ put yourself first."

Vlad sighed, Danny could almost picture him holding the bridge of his nose in frustration. _" You cannot help anybody if you have run yourself into the ground!"_

Danny fell silent to that. These past two weeks had been proof that the man was right, annoying. He'd tried to save everyone, and instead, he had saved no one, not even himself. He picked at the hole sadly, tugging until the strains pulled away. " How long?"

 _"Pardon?"_

" How long till you get here?"

 _"About two days at the maximum. Once I find this church, it won't be long."_

"Can't you just teleport to me now? You can tell me where you are and together we can work how far you are-"

 _"-I'm sorry Little Badger, but it's too great of a risk. The amount of energy I need to teleport… it's far too great. I would be like a beacon to any ecto-tracker for miles. No… I would only end up betraying both of our locations. We'll have to do this the old fashion way."_

"Couldn't we just risk it? Maybe…maybe the G.I.W don't have that good of a signal with their trackers as you think? We're wasting time - " Danny froze, one of the top floor lights blinking on.

Someone was up.

 _"Daniel?"_ Vlad called, nervous at his sudden pause.

"Someone's up. I have to go." He stood, brushing the snow off his jeans. "I guess next time we talk it'll be face to face."

 _"Daniel wait a minute,"_ he paused for far too long, _" give me three days. If in three days I'm not there, you get your friends to keep going. Don't stay in one spot for too long, it's too dangerous to hang around. Just kept heading north and I'll contact you again. Don't try to contact me, I'll call you, understand?"_

"Where this coming from?" he laughed, but fear gripped him.

 _"Just a precaution. We can't take chances. But I'll try to get to you in a day and a half, how's that?"_

Another light turned on. "Fine."

 _" Wonderful. Oh, and Daniel?"_

"…Yeah?"

 _"Whatever you do, do not turn into your ghost form. Until I'm there to teach you how to hide your aura, it would be unwise to do so."_

"Yeah Yeah…" Danny grumbled, walking toward the kitchen door. " Anything else you want to pick on me for?"

 _"Oh, there's a list I would love to go through, but that'll have to wait. Ta."_

And with that Vlad hanged up, Danny chuckling as he hid the phone in his sleeve. That Cheesehead couldn't help himself, could he? But it was nice, in a twisted sort of way. Something normal from his past that hadn't changed, though Danny feared that would change when he met him face to face without the cell phones shielding them.

Noiselessly he phased into the kitchen, the lights now on. In the hall he could hear Sam marching down the hall, banging doors. Quickly he returned the phone to it's charger, peering around the corner.

"He's not here either!" Sam scowled, heading up the stair's "Honesty I'll-" she spotted him, squeaking in fright. "Dammit, don't do that!"

"Sorry," he smiled sleeplessly, rubbing the back of his neck. " Should I have called out?"

Ignoring his question she marched down the stairs, snapping at him. "Where were you?"

"Outside. I needed some fresh air."

"Well, next time you need some fresh air, tell someone! You scared me half to death!"

He smirked and she scowled, poking him in the chest. "That wasn't a joke!"

"What's going on?" Tucker grumbled from the top of the stairs, squinting in the bright light.

"Morning Tuck," Danny grinned as Sam pushed passed him and into the living room. "Everything fine."

Tucker grunted, slinking back to the room for a few more hours of sleep. Sam was banging pots and pans now, Danny sighing as he knew was going to have to come up of with a good excuse. Walking back to through the door though, he paused, eyeing the phone with a stab of guilt. But he shook his head, pushing the feeling down and heading over to the stove to make a coffee. Maybe Vlad was right, for once, maybe he should be a little selfish.


	6. Chapter 6

**_CHAPTER 6 - NO GOOD CHOICE_**

Danny awoke to a hand covering his mouth. He jolted up, eyes flashing neon green, lighting up the darkened room like a flashlight. Quickly the hand covered them, a thin, tiny voice whispering in his ear.

" Danny it's me!" Sam hissed, fear edging her voice. "Calm down!"

He gasped, pulling her hand away as his eyes dimmed. "What on earth-"

"Shhh!" placing a finger to her lips Sam shuffled around the bed, waking Tucker in the same way. There was an oddness to everything, Danny straining his hearing for the slightest of changes. But nothing came to him.

"Sam," he whispered, kicking off the covers. " Sam! What's going on?"

She bit her lip, pale in the morning light. "Guy's in White. At the end of the driveway."

Tucker leaped up in a flash without a word, dashing out the door to their gear. Danny froze, feeling his heart race at the thought that the G.I.W were so close. Following Sam, they grabbed their gear, not wasting time to pack anything else. The food would have been handy, but they couldn't risk it. Tucker grabbed his PDA, handing Danny's phone to him as they opened the back door.

Sam hesitated at the sight of the large, empty backyard. " Their still down in the driveway. I don't think they know we're here, just searching, but who knows…" suddenly she pointed at Danny, checks reddening in anger. "Plasmius must have sold us out!"

His chest skipped a beat. No… there was no way that Vlad would have done that. Danny was positive about that. Remembering how he'd sounded on the phone yesterday… he wouldn't sell him out now!

"Impossible. Sure, he's a jerk Sam, but he knows if they catch me I'm as good as dead. And he's never wanted to completely kill me without a good reason too before."

"There's always a first time! He could have blamed you for wrecking his life, and this his evil revenge scheme. Then when you finally answered the phone he somehow tracked your cell phone's location."

Danny's face dropped. He'd never thought of that. But the memory of when he was at the wreckage of Casper High came back to him. Of him bleeding on the ground, unable to go ghost as the G.I.W closed in on him. And of Plasmius standing defensively over him, a shield casting the world around them into a pinkish glow. And he recalled how Plasmius had roared at them to back off, voice so full of rage and hate he'd never heard from him before, so dark the agents had backed off in terror…

No, Vlad wouldn't betray him now.

"You…you don't know what you're talking about!"

Tucker grabbed his arm, hissing at the both of them. "Look, guys, would you please stop arguing and bring your attention back to the bunch of ghost hunters who are about to spring us!"

They turned back to the yard, the sound of slamming car making them jump. But they all paused, beyond that fence was a small clearing before the forest. They would be in full sight. Danny held out his arms, pushing in front.

"Grab my arms. I'll make us invisible long enough-"

"Don't be stupid! The moment you use your powers their radars will pick you up!"

"Then what the hell are we going to do Sam!? They'll see us before we even get to the tree line!"

"We'll risk it"

Before Danny could argue Sam sprinted out, followed swiftly by Tucker. At that moment he debated whether to call Vlad and tell him to teleport, the phone cupped in his hand. But as his friends helped each other over the wooden fence, he pushed the idea away. Later he would, now he had to protect those two. Easily he sprinted over, pushing himself with ease over the fence. It was a stressful few minutes for him, them running clearly in the morning light. But luck must have been on their side as they made it to the trees without hearing a single cry of alarm.

Once in the safety of the shadows of the trees, they lay flat in the snow, waiting and watching to see if anyone followed. But by the smashing sound, they were busier at the front of the house.

"All clear, let's go."

They bolted away, Danny annoyed that they couldn't just fly away. But Vlad's warning rung in his head, he couldn't go ghost. When their lungs were bursting they came to a steep slope. Sam slid down first, her wide combat boots making the slide ease, while Tucker stumbled down, panting heavily from the sudden exercise. Danny brought up at the rear, taking the slope too fast. A tree root caught his foot, sending him tumbling to the ground. He landed hard, slamming his bruise wounds onto the hard ground. A flash of burning pain shot through his stomach and before he could stop himself Danny cried out.

The cry sounded ear-splitting in the silence. Sam rushed to him helping him up while scanning the forest for any signs of movement.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, it just hit me where it hurts."

"Err guys, we have a problem," Tucker called out ahead. Rushing to catch up they suddenly saw why. Before them at the bottom of the slope was a cliff face, the tops of pines blocking out the bottom. It was far too steep for them to climb down, and to far to jump.

" Looks like we're skirting around," Sam muttered, adjusting her pack.

"Left or Right?" Tuck pointed both ways, asking Sam as she pouted.

It was then a faint click caught Danny attention, so soft he almost missed it. He just had time to pull Sam and Tucker down before a bullet grazed a tree truck mere inches from where they'd just been standing. The shot rang out like an exploding, echoing through the trees and causing birds to fly into the air in shock.

Jumping up Danny saw a G.I.W agent walk around a trunk, yet the person who'd shot was a plain blue-uniformed cop. Danny gritted his teeth. It was taking all his willpower not to go ghost and reveal their position. But they were going to have to fight these guys the hard way.

He didn't waste any time and leaped up, sprinting up to the main threat, the guy with the real gun. The agent raised what looked like a small version of a Fenton Ecto-gun at him, but Sam and Tucker distracted him by throw stones and sticks his way. As Danny ran he bent down, grabbing a handful of snow. Hoping that the tiny amount of power wouldn't be sensed by their tracking devices he threw the ghost power infused snow at them.

The snowball exploded mid-air into a shower of mist, covering the area like a smoke bomb. Danny used the cover to grab at the cop, tearing the gun from the man's hand before he realized what was happening. Rapidly he punched the man hard in the gut, hearing all the air leave his lungs as he passed out.

Danny turned to the others as the mist drifted away, seeing that Sam and Tucker having a hard time restraining the last man. The agent snarled, wresting one of his arms free.

"What the hell are you kids doing!?" Twisting his free arm around he pushed Tucker away using the butt of his Ecto-gun, sending Tucker sprawling to his knees. Whirling around he pointed the firearm at Danny.

"We're _saving_ you two!"

Danny charged forward as the man fired, dodging the shot by a hair. He felt his cheek burn as something small whizzed by, grazed his check.

"Sam, _move!_ "

She let go suddenly, throwing the agent off balance. It was all Danny need as he rammed into the man, smashing him into the pine tree with all his unrestrained strength. He felt bones crack as he pushed him into the trunk with all his might, feeling his bruises pull, hard.

The agent crumbled to the ground with a yelp, stilling. The effort left Danny panting, holding his side as he felt a warmth spread under his fingers. The scab much have pulled off. Sam looked at him wide-eyed for an instant, before both of them nodded, an unspoken message passing between them. She jogged up to the cop, taking his weapons from him while Danny went to Tucker, finding him clutching his bloody nose.

"You good?" Danny said, offering his hand.

"Ow, _OW!_ Dude thad Hort!" Tucker splutter nasally, grabbing his outstretched hand.

The gunshot rang out harshly around the forest, the trio freezing at the sound. Time seemed to stop as they all tried to work out what had happened. Where had it come from? And more importantly, had someone been shot. Danny froze in alarm, feeling a sting in-between his shoulder blades. For a horrid moment, he realized he'd been the one hit, twisting around to look at the damage. However, instead of a bloody hole, he found a long, red-tip dart was embedded in his sweater. He stared at it in shock, watching the last of the liquid inside in clear tube disappeared.

In horror, Sam whipped around, but not to look at Danny. The agent they'd knocked against the tree was still conscious, struggling to hold up the Ecto-gun. Without thinking, Sam dashed forward as he prepared to shoot again. Just as he was about to pull the trigger she stomped on his hand, making the gun go off into the ground, the dart spraying snow and dirt into the air.

The man cried out and tried to free his hand, but Sam wouldn't let him, rage filling her. He blinked up at her in confusion, eyes widening.

"D-Damn, you really are under its control-"

Sam kicked him, finally knocking him out cold as she lost her temper. She trembled as she glowered at him, holding back the desire to hit him again for good measure.

"Oh crap! _Sam!_ "

Dread filled her when Tucker's voice cracked at her name. Spinning round they both watch as Danny swayed, trying to pull the dart from the center of his back. Yet as he tried his head lolloped, eyes rolling weakly as he swayed.

"Whoa… I think… I'm gonna-" His legs crumbled, Tucker catching him before he fell to the snow.

"Oh no," she whispered as she ran forward, her legs feeling numb the closer she got to them. Already she could see that whatever was in that dart was taking full effect, its contents extremely strong. Danny was gripping Tucker's shoulders, struggling to stay on his knees. Quickly she crouched beside him, ripping out the dart in his back.

Danny gasped as the dart was pulled out. Already his head was swimming, a bizarre lightness was numbing his mind as the shock of how fast it was taking effect shaking his system. His limbs suddenly felt like they were made of nothing, feeling like he was intangible without actually being so. Shaking his head roughly he tried to stay focused. The G.I.W were on the way! But… he felt abruptly felt like he hadn't slept in forever.

"Hey, hey, keep it together man!" Tucker gripped his collar, shaking him. " They would have heard the shooting from miles away. You don't have time to take a nap!"

"That's strong…whatever that was…" he mumbled, eyelids growing heavy.

"Danny?" Sam shook his shoulder, getting his attention. " We have to get you out of here! Get up!"

But before he could stop himself he caved in, falling flat on his face into the snow. He heard his friends call out in alarm, but already he was already drifting away. It felt so nice.

 _"Danny!"_ Sam yelled, tugging at his sweater. " Get up!"

But he couldn't move. He could barely feel his body anymore.

 _Slap!_

He gasped, the world coming back violently and dizzily. Somehow, he was on his back now, Sam hovering over him as she slapped him again.

"Go Ghost!"

He frowned, trying to understand what was wrong. He couldn't do that anyway. "No…. No." He groaned, eyes rolling in his head.

She practically punched him in the chest as her voice went higher than normal, sounding further and further away. " Danny, this isn't the time to be stubborn! Who cares if they sense your ghost form now, they'll catch you for sure if you go to sleep! Phantom should be able to push down the drug for a while, buying us some time to get away!"

He shook his head, sighing as everything blurred again. "I can't… Vlad told me I can't go ghost anymore."

"Wait…what?"

She slapped him again as his eyelid closed once more. He was starting to get annoyed that she wasn't letting him sleep.

"What did you just say?"

"He said… said until he came to show me how I couldn't…change. Too risky."

"What are you saying?" the weight on his chest lifted, a wave or weariness passing over his mind. This time, he almost fell asleep completely.

"Danny just go ghost now!" Tucker freaked, just hearing both of his friend's panic was enough to snap him back to his senses.

"You told him where we were, didn't you?" Sam's voice seemed to be coming from inside his head, drumming through his skull. "Why? Why would you tell that jerk where you are?"

"Because… Because he- " Suddenly this confusing was too much for him, fear filling his chest from the hurt in her voice. Using the last of his strength, Danny finally let the white ring pass over him, turning into Phantom with a sigh.

"…Because he saved my life."

He saw his friends dumbfounded faces, turning his head up at the sky. He hadn't realized it had started snowing, the little droplets of cold clearing his mind as the sleeping dart ebbed away for now.

"…After I got shot… after Valerie's Dad shot me, I couldn't go ghost," Danny hesitated, still disordered from the dart. Yet he knew this was it. It was time, to tell the truth. " I couldn't do anything…I was just…so scared. The G.I.W were surrounding me, ready to finish me off for good this time. But then… Plasmius just showed up. At the time I didn't know why... I thought he'd high tail out of Amity the moment the gag was up. But he…didn't. He shielded me from their attacks, protected me while risking his own skin. When…when things got serious one of his duplicates grabbed me and got me out of there. And the whole time he carried he kept telling me everything was going to be okay…. That we were going to be okay."

He sighed again, finally remembering what the man's clone had said to him while they'd been flying for their lives.

 _"Daniel-_ Daniel!... _Calm down! Everything is going to be alright…. No, Little Badger looked at me; not behind me, look at me! That's it... You're going to be fine. Where both going to be fine. Your safe my boy, perfectly fine… I know, I know…. No… Your bleeding, but it's not as bad as it looks. A few days and you'll be back to your normal self…No, no they not following- I'm sure… Honestly, Little Badger, I can handle it…I'll take care of everything. You're safe-!"_

And then, Danny's shuddered at the memory, Plasmius's duplicate had screamed in agony. In a cloud of pink smoke, he disappeared, Danny falling down into the alleyway below.

"And then, his duplicate was gone… and I thought…I thought he had just died trying to save me."

He turned to his stunned friends, giving them an apologetic look. "I'm sorry. I called Vlad yesterday and told him where we were. I didn't want to go behind your backs, but I knew you wouldn't like him coming so I thought…if he just showed up that would be the end of it."

Looking into Sam's eyes he tried to make her understand. " But I know Vlad wouldn't betrayal us to the G.I.W… I'm a hundred percent sure he didn't."

"How?" she whispered back, tears in the corners of her eyes.

He sighed, looking back at the sky. "I need to tell you both something important. Something… I should have told you both when you found me in the alley-" But suddenly he paused, the sound of heavy footsteps reaching his ears.

Tilting his neck to look up the slope, he tensed. "Someone's coming. Fast."

Shaking off the dread she felt in the pit of her stomach, Sam stood, turning to Tucker.

"Tuck! Grab the cop's guns, he's got two."

The tech nerd gulped, standing on shaky legs as he stumbled to the unconscious man. "You seriously thinking of using a real gun!?"

 _"Yes!_ If we don't then Danny's dead! It's too late to run now."

Taking the heavy, cold things in his hands, Tucker handed one to her. "But…we don't even know how to use a real gun!"

"It's no different from any Ecto-gun, just more lethal."

At the top of the slope a single agent appeared. At the sight of the three of them, he yelled in alarm, twisting back behind him.

Raising the gun up, Tucker trembled. "Okay, you can do this Tucker! It's… it's just like a level in Doomed…yeah, that's it."

Sam rolled her eyes, raising the gun while looking at Danny. He was trying to get up, finally standing on shaky legs. He swayed, holding out his arms for balance. With a grunt he stumbled in front of them, watching as ten agents appeared at the top of the slope. "I've got ten minutes at the max before this drug affects me fully. In that time, we've got to knock them out."

The group above took out their weapons, without any hesitation they spirited down the hill towards them. Huffing in amusement Danny raised his hand higher, green eyes turning icy blue.

"Ready?"

 _"Yes!"_

"S-sure"

"Good! Because I'm making the first move! I hope they don't mind if I freeze their little parade."

When they were halfway down the hill Danny used his ice powers, the snow exploding around them in to ice walls. In seconds the G.I.W agents were covered in an icy prison. With a creaking noise, Danny thickened it before he lost control and fell to his knees.

"It won't-" he panted, struggling as the sleepiness returned. "Hold for long. When it breaks, if you're going to shoot, go for their arms and legs. Don't kill them."

When only Tucker replied back Danny scowled. " _Sam!"_

She didn't look at him. "They'd kill you."

 _"Yes!_ And that's why we can't sink to their level!"

"I won't promise you."

"Then I'll stop you before you do!"

She glared at him, but Danny held her gaze. He wasn't about to prove to the G.I.W that he was a murderer. Killing them would show the world that he _was_ evil, and he had no intentions of doing so. Even if his own life was at risk, he'd promised himself he would never take a life. And he wasn't about to let his best friends kill for him either.

There was a rumble as a flash of green lit the ice. It began to crack, groaning as the ecto-shots damaged it bit by bit. Danny got up again, getting really to make a shield strong enough to protect his friends from any stray shots.

The ice prison shattered, reveling the seemly un-fazed G.I.W. For a moment, both parties froze, both sizing up the other up. Danny quickly saw how bad the situation was. There were ten of them, all armed to the teeth with anti-ghost gear and more of what looked like those dart guns. He also noticed with annoyance that they had their jet-packs strap to them. That meant flying away would be pointless.

Three of the agents were bolder than the others and stepped forward. Danny made his hands glow, showing them, he wasn't afraid to attack, thankfully stopping them in their tracks. It was then a familiar agent stepped forward. Danny had recalled him once working with Agent Alpha and Operative O. Thinking back he remembered the agents name, Agent Z. The man spotted Danny in the centred, grinning not kindly back and gestured with his gun.

"Subject 2! Surrender now and release your hostages."

 _"'Hostages!?"_ Sam bellowed, rage boiling over. "How dare you-"

" _Sam! You're not helping!_ " Danny hissed, standing straighter as he looked up at the Agent. He knew that he couldn't hide the dizziness he was feeling. Already his limbs felt heavy again, mind dulling over. And as the Agent looked over them to his unconscious ally, back to his swaying form, he probably had already guessed that Danny had been hit by a dart. That meant he knew that Phantom would lose in a long confrontation.

Danny cleared his throat, praying he didn't collapse. "And what if I don't-?" his voice faulted at the end, rocking on his feet as he fought back the drug, which didn't go past the man. "-what if I don't want to surrender?"

"Then you will only prolong your capture, spook!"

The agent's fired, and Danny raises a shield, grunting at the pressure it made. "Get ready when I bring it down!"

Quickly as the firing started the blasts stopped, and Danny lowered the shied. Sam was fast, never missing a shot as she fired three Agents in the leg in quick succession. Tucker was less accurate, missing the arm and instead of hitting one of the Agent's jet-packs. There was a blast of steam as the Agent's jumped away in fright, the one he'd hit rocking into the ground.

"Err… Bullseye!" Tucker yelped and shot again, but this time missing completely.

Danny fired his own green blast, throwing back one of the Agents. That's four down…

But there was still too many of them about. And Danny knew there would be more coming their way from the noise. They needed to end this fast, and that meant bringing the fight to them.

Summoning as much power as he could he shot forward, paying no attention to the warning yells from his friends. He rushed up and punched one of the agent's, sending him tumbling. All the others turned to him.

 _That's it, focus on me, not them._ Danny blasted another, dodging a shot by a centimetre. He twisted around, dismissing the protest from his body and made an ice shield, hearing it groan as an explosion hit it. He saw out of the corner of his eye another agent falls to one of Sam's shots.

Four left! He took a deep breath, knowing this was going to be his final move. However, before he could let loose his wail he felt a burning in his shoulder. An ani-ecto-ray knocked the wind out of him, sending him crashing into the snow. Danny winced as he heard a deafening bang, waiting to feel the impact. But when nothing happen dread gripped him. No way, they wouldn't shoot his friends!?

He looked up in time to see them both trapped in a net, skidding to a stop in the snow. Sam was yelling a string of curses, shooting through a gap in the net. Two shots she fired, till the sound of frantic clicking sound as she ran out of ammo.

Danny tried to get up, but a wave of wooziness overtook him. To his horror, his white rings appeared and reverted him back to normal. No! not now! He quickly turned back just as he slumped back to the ground, barely holding on.

"Do you think to gain pity from me?"

Danny blinked as Agent Z as he strolled forward gun in hand, a ugly scowl twisting his face. He readily a ray but the Agent fired quicker, another dart plowing hard into his chest. But as Danny swiftly ripped dart out, it was too late. He turned back once again in a flash, kneeling on his hands and knees with a groan.

"Do you think, spook, that by looking human I'll show mercy?"

Danny glared, trying to turn back, but everything was rotating.

"You can't deceive me; I know what you are."

Gritting his teeth, he sprang up, rushing the Agent to take him down; but the next minute he was laying on his side in the snow, muddled, as Agent Z towered above him, talking on his ear-piece.

"This is Agent Z reporting in. Subject 2 has been tranquilized and detained. Heading back to HQ now."

Danny frowned, everything sounds like it was underwater. Even his breathing felt laboured, each breath slow and heavy and hard to let out. Even in his confused state, Danny knew; it was all over.

 _"Danny!"_ Sam screamed in mad panic from somewhere, Danny rolling his swore eyes to where the net was. She was trying cut the net with a small knife, but it had little effect. "You have to go ghost! Get away before it's too late!"

A black boot blocked his view, a hand pinning his head to the ground. "You better not try anything, freak. Not if you value your life. " He paused, his laugh echoing through Danny's body. " You and I are going to have a lot of fun back at HQ-"

 _Beep!_ Everything froze as an abrupt, meltalic beeping echoed around the forest. Agent Z stilled, not letting go of Danny for a second, breathing becoming ragged in fury. Another agent fumbled with a device on his belt, gasping when he read the device.

"What." Agent Z spat.

"S-sir… it's picking up a powerful ectoplasmic signature that's approaching us at high speed, it's… it's Subject 1 sir."

Agent Z was livid, fingers pulling so hard on Danny's hair that it stung. Danny didn't dare move, his heart racing madly in his ears as his mind cleared enough to process what the man had said.

"Retreat… " the man muttered. "the civilians safely is our top priority right now. Agent Q! Get the restraints, quickly!"

At that moment something snapped within Danny. Adrenaline ran through his blood at the thought that Plasmius could be coming, momentarily blocking the drug from his system. He knew he couldn't escape the man's grip, but if he took him down with him… quickly he checked that the net was not in the path between him and the cliff. Satisfied he turned his head the best he could, he grinned.

"Your right;" he giggled weakly, Agent Z looking down at him in surprise. "You and I _are_ going to have lots of fun."

" _What!?"_ he hissed, gloved hand tugging at hair.

"But first," Danny stretched his free hand toward the remains of his ice prison, he eyes flashing neon blue. "Let's go for a ride!"

Before either Agent Z or the other agent could react, Danny sent the mound of snow and ice rushing toward them like an avalanche. In seconds it hit the three of them, as an unstoppable force helped along with his ice powers. It sent them tumbling over the cliff, burying them down to the pine trees below.


	7. Chapter 7 - END

**_CHAPTER 7 - ALONE_**

* * *

It was cold. And for Danny that was a good thing.

He didn't open his eyes at first, still feeling like he was floating. Behind that lightheartedness he could feel his muscles ache, a twinge running from his shoulder to his waist. But that was to expected after launching himself off a cliff.

When he did have the courage to open them, nothing but black could be seen. Every part of his body was immobile, pressed down by the heavy snow around him and the feeling of the sleeping dart still coursing through his system. Then Danny remembered; the avalanche, the agent's, and his last ditch to get out of there.

Danny didn't panic at the thought that he was trapped. The snow was a soft cushion to him, blocking out all sound. He wanted just to stay there forever, forget everything that had happened to his life and just sleep here till spring.

But the memory of Sam and Tucker thrashing in the net made him realized that he couldn't. They needed him.

Pushing down the grogginess of the sleep dart, he reached for his powers. However the white rings did not come, his mind too jumbled to focus. That began the long dig out. With a little help from his ice powers, the compact snow parted like water, but it was still a challenged. When everything began to turn dark blue, he knew he was nearing the surface. And with one final tug his hand burst through the snow.

Dragging his body up he wretched half his body out, before slumping onto the surface of the avalanche. He body was so tried, whatever had been in those darts had been strong. Laying there, breathing in the freezing air was all Danny could do, wishing he'd just stayed buried in the snow. One glance at the world around him told him that it was almost night, the cliff face casting a blue shadowing in the falling light.

His friends… they could be miles away now. There was no way for him to know if they were alright, whether those buffoons where looking after them okay. But a least they were alive. That he knew. The G.I.W would never kill them, so they were safe. Safer than with him, Danny through glumly. At least now they didn't have to watch over him, risking their lives every day. That made him all the more happy that they got separated. Now… now he could face this nightmare without worrying he'd lose them.

As another wave of sleepiness passed over his mind, Danny knew he had to get back to the house. Not just to recover from the fight, but Vlad had said he was on the way. And right now, as much as he hated it; he needed that stupid Fruitloop. Unlike his friends, he knew Plasmius could handle anything that got thrown at him. If he was going to go back and save Amity, he was going to need the old Half ghost's help.

He tested his right hand, twitching the fingers towards him. The movement was delayed, the action taking too much effort. That settled it then, he was stuck here for the night. He needed to rest till his strength fully returned.

And then in the morning, he'd go back to the house. Vlad might already be there, those stupid agent's did say a powerful ecto-signature was on the way. That had to be him.

Suddenly his phone went off, the ringtone baring around the forest. Damn, he always did have freakishly perfect timing. Danny tried to dig the thing out of his pocket, but he was lying on that side. His body was still too weak to move. With a huff, he gave up fishing it out of his pocket and slumped back down. Vlad was going to have to wait the night out too.

The buzzing ended, only for it to immediately start again. And again. Seriously? What on earth was that Cheesehead doing? He knew he wasn't going to answer, so why was he ringing so much! Suddenly on the sixth ring, Danny heard something echo out in the forest. Straining to hear he heard a second ringing echoing, in the exact time of his.

A thin trail of mist left as his ghost sense exploded out. His eyes widened and couldn't stop himself from grinning. This aura… Plasmius! He must be using the ringing to find him! He'd never even thought of that.

Danny struggled to sit up as the buzzing brought footsteps. He didn't what Plasmius to see him in such a pathetic state. But as he pulled himself up, the gunshot wound pulled, sending a flash of pain. He gasped, fearing the wound had opened. But it was only the bruises, recreated from his fall that left him seeing stars. Falling back onto the snow, Danny struggled to stay concussed, that had been a stupid thing to do.

"My, you've certainly had a rough time, haven't you?"

Danny froze, his heavy gasping catching in his throat as his blood went cold. No.

"Sam and Tucker not with you? Shame; I really wanted to talk with them."

Slowly he looked up at the ghost, confirming his fear. Red, dark eyes glared back in amusement, flame-like hair casting an odd light. But that wasn't what scared Danny the most, not the sight of Him, but what was in His hand. It _was_ Vlad's phone. But if He had it, then it means… that meant that…

Danny tried to go ghost, but like before the white rings dissolved away. He was still too weak, too dizzy to turn. And with that thought a sad, sinking feeling landed in his gut. He had known that one day he would've had to face Him again, it was unavoidable that they did, but he thought it would have been in Amity Park. He would return at fight him in some epic showdown. But he'd followed him…no… he'd followed _Vlad._ That was why the G.I.W had come to the house, they'd been following Him. Danny was just the icing on the cake of all this. After all, He'd already ruined his whole life.

But at least Sam and Tucker were safe. In a twisted way, the G.I.W had saved them.

He diffed over the loose snow, coming closer until he was right in front of him. Danny's ghost sense went off again in a plum of freezing air. The energy that He was sending was too much. Panic sent in at what was about to happen, Danny had no idea what he would do with him, but something told him this nightmare was far from over.

With a wicked grin, He crushed Vlad's phone, the pieces falling in front of Danny, feeling like his last lifeline was snatched away.

"Time's up, Danny."

 ** _END_**

 ** _AN:_ I am still debating on whether to continue this and make it into something longer, though right now my two other stories are back on my main focus. Any feedback or criticism on this would be much appreciated!**


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